Re: battery drain while parked - why?

["Douglas Hurst Quebbeman" <dougq@iglou.com>]

> >  # It's just a fact of life -- Audis do indeed eat car batteries.
> >  # 
> > ... yes, it's because the batteries are designed to be in the more 
> > harsh environment under the hood ... many Audis coddle the battery 
> > under the seat ... ;-)
> 
> > Mistreat your battery from time to time ... it'll make it stronger! :)
> 
> So that's why my battery (unknown age, at least 2 years) is still
> surviving.  I've killed it three times (lights, lights, radio)
> and each time it has revived with a jump start and seemed as strong
> as ever with minimal driving/no other recharging.
> 
> Wonder if some of those under seat batteries are shorting out
> to the seat somehow. 

Orin, you've hit the nail on the head. Contrary to the opening
remark above (from ???), I've never known Audis to eat batteries,
but rather, that batteries eat Audis! Every Audi I've bought that
had the battery under the rear seat (all my 100LSs and now the 5k).
Each time, the car's previous owner replaced the battery either
with one that lacked a proper vented connection, or had it but
did not connect it (the 5k). Plus, they had installed the battery
in te 5k without the plastic + terminal shield. Somebody sat
down in the rear seat, seat shorts + terminal to ground and Boom!

This resulted in quite a bit of battery acid leaking onto the 
floorboard.

Also, battery acid condenses out of the gasses that leak from a 
standard battery and leaks down onto the floorboard. Not even a 
galvanized body will stand that for long. So I took the car to a body 
shop, had all the corrosion removed & repainted the metal. Forgot
to tell them it was galvanized, but nobody died from the fumes...

Still, it's probably a goo location for the darned thing.

only the best,
doug
 
--
-Douglas Hurst Quebbeman (dougq@iglou.com)            [Call me "Doug"]
74 100LS Auto, 77 100LS Auto, 84 Coupe GT, 86 5Kcstq
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away."  -Tom Waits